


Navy-Red Sky

by tonight_aliv



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: A little bit of everything, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm finally posting a drabble collection from tumblr ahh, M/M, Sickfic, maybe one day I'll write again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 07:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8524051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonight_aliv/pseuds/tonight_aliv
Summary: Collection of GX Rivalshipping (manjuu) drabbles from tumblr, edited and reposted onto AO3. Requests are welcome in the comments! Each chapter is a collection centered around either a theme or an ambiguous plot.





	1. Sickness

1:

He awoke from fever dreams that had consumed every space of his skin in pinpricks and tiny dancing flames. They left him sore more than anything else, but he couldn’t shake the strange separation of heat on his skin and the icy chill deep in his bones. His black hair stuck against his face in strands, clinging desperately to his sweat. Despite shallow breaths, he groaned at the ache in his head.

There was a soft snore to his left that he hadn’t noticed.

His eyes opened slowly to the harsh light of the nurse’s office, with its white cloth curtains and muddled beige walls. Shifting toward the soft noise, his weary gaze lit upon the all too familiar form of a certain Osiris Red student. He rolled his eyes at Judai’s position in the plastic chair— one ankle resting over his knee, his hands laced behind his brown hair, his neck thrown so far back that Jun thought it might snap, his Adam’s apple more pronounced with every breath.

Jun reached out toward his crossed leg slowly, taking hold of Judai’s knee and throwing it with all of his weary strength. He sat up with the momentum as Judai fell out of the chair, yelling when he was startled out of his slumber.

To his slight credit, Judai righted himself quickly enough to spin into an impromptu kneel on the linoleum floor, saying, “Oh! You’re awake!”

Jun buried his head in his hands. Why him.

“At least make yourself the slightest bit useful,” he paused to draw a long breath, “and get me some water and a cool towel.”

He hated the way Judai laughed his reply of, “Can do!” before disappearing behind the curtain that surrounded the bed Jun had found himself in.

Why him.

* * *

2:

He adjusted slightly. The bathwater swallowed his chin, his lips, and nipped at his earlobes. Bony knees were left exposed to the much colder air, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. A deep breath through his nose, and gray eyes slipped closed as he focused his attention on the warmth of the water on his skin, the mildly scented soap. It was comfortable enough, despite his being a bit too tall, and he had the nerve to hope that the warm water would wash away this unbearable sickness.

He wasn’t too startled by the loud knocking at the bathroom door. Angered, but not too startled, for it was only a matter of time before  _a certain someone_ got bored. He threw the disturbance a kindly “leave me alone,” even though he knew that it wouldn’t work, especially hoarse and quiet as the command was.

The doorknob turned slowly, and before Jun managed to moan in regret at forgetting to lock the door, a messy mop of two-toned brown hair peeked through the opening. Those brown eyes were shining with mischief, always shining with mischief, as he exchanged looks with the teen in the tub, trying to hide his smile behind the door. It didn’t matter, since Jun could see the lopsided grin everywhere in his face.

“You went quiet! I wanted to make sure you didn’t drown or something.” The voice was too loud in Jun’s ears as it echoed slightly off the tiled walls of the small bathroom, and he grimaced in response, moving his head to rest flatly on the cold porcelain.

“You’re an idiot,” he mumbled, eyes closing again. It was getting harder to breathe, like his lungs were too tired to keep this up, as a wave of fatigue overtook him.

Something was bothering him, something poking at him from the back of his mind, and when he opened his eyes on a deep exhale, the first thing he saw was Judai staring back down at him, no longer smiling.

“What’s with you?” he muttered as a smirk tugged at his lips, but didn’t go very far to change his blank expression. Could Judai even tell? “Fuckin’ pervert, watching a guy _bathe_ …”

Judai’s movements were swift, almost uncharacteristically so. At once his hands held the sides of the tub, face moving down toward Jun’s, and Jun couldn’t help but shrink back at the movement. He saw Judai’s hands tighten around the edges, but before he could come up with a reason why, Judai’s lips were suddenly on his, working against his, trying to glean a response from Jun’s still face.

Warm hands emerged from the water, pushing at Judai’s shoulders gently, soaking the t-shirt he was wearing. A brilliantly fake smile formed on the brunette’s face as he pulled his face away, but he remained leaning over Jun.

“You suck at kissing today, y’ know?”

Jun scoffed, “You’re an asshole for trying that when I’m sick.”

Another coughing fit, the likes of which he had been victim to for the last three days, might have helped to drive the point home at that statement. As it was, Jun only had the option of leveling Judai with a glare. The pills he had taken over an hour ago was still working too well.

The fake grin on Judai’s face slowly relaxed into a small, lop-sided smile, and after a long moment he moved to kneel at the edge of the tub. Head rested on his arm, he stared at Jun for a bit, making him squirm under the attentive gaze until Judai’s other hand decided to occupy itself by brushing stray strands of dark hair from Jun’s face.

“Leave me alone,” he said again, even as he leaned slightly into the hand at his temple.

He heard a soft chuckle, but he wasn’t looking at Judai’s small smile anymore, “No. Life’s really boring without you in it.”

There were other implications in that response, ones that Jun would have caught on to easily and probably berated Judai heavily for had he been more himself, but as for right now, all he wanted to do was sleep. Preferably somewhere far away from Judai… the last thing he wanted to do upon getting better was to nurse back to health the single most annoying person he had ever had the displeasure of falling in love with.

Wait, there was something about that last thought, something warm and unusual and beautiful at the same time, but as Judai helped him out of the bath and into some clothes, he let the thought escape, entirely too tired to think on it any longer.

* * *

3:

The unabashed afternoon sunlight streaming in through the windows made Judai’s vision swim. Boundaries between his plain porcelain mug and the lightly stained wooden table it rested upon were blurred in a haze that was hard for him to focus on. The world was shifting in colors far too bright to be real, far too fast for his concentration.

He groaned softly as he closed his eyes and rested his aching head in his right hand. His left easily grasped at the mug, taking some of its radiating warmth as a slight comfort.

The strangest taste rose back into his mouth, and he had to consciously hold back a rotten belch. He held himself still for a handful of seconds, not daring to move, to think, to breathe.

Footsteps approached too soon, too loudly, but they stole his apt attention all the same as they paused on the other side of the table.

“Have you learned your lesson yet?” Manjoume quipped, and Judai felt his lips twitch into a smirk. His right hand moved to rub at his aching temples.

It took a long minute of silence before Judai blinked his eyes open. He looked to the other end of the table softly, surprised to find Manjoume still standing there, staring at him with a face void of expression. Judai found himself even more surprised when, after a small glance of eye-contact, Manjoume blinked his gaze away, toward the cabinets that lined the small kitchen.

His thick eyebrows drew together, “What, do I look that bad?”

Manjoume crossed his arms, his hands gripping at the dark fabric that covered them, “No, it’s not… it’s nothing.”

Judai watched as Manjoume moved, slowly at first, toward one of the cabinets near the sink. Adjusting his head to follow Manjoume’s movements aggravated his frayed nerves, but they settled soon enough after he rested his chin in the palms of both of his hands.

“Aspirin, I’m guessing?” Manjoume said as he reached for one of the bottles hidden on an upper shelf, his back to Judai. The sunlight was getting to be too bright again as Judai sighed.

“What did I do last night?”

One of the bottles rattled as it fell, filling the silence before Manjoume said, “You kept talking about going to the moon, like an idiot.”

Judai’s gaze fell back to his mug of tea, and he reached for its warmth with both hands. It was still too warm to drink, but the heat comforted him, kept his nerves from screaming. He recalled that revisited dream, one he’d been having a lot lately, of going to the moon—

Going to the moon with Manjoume.

His pulse was steadily quickening, and he could feel its uncomfortable tick in his throat, “What else?”

He hadn’t heard Manjoume move, and he flinched when Manjoume forcefully placed the bottle of aspirin in the space between Judai’s arms. The noise resonated in his head painfully as Manjoume neatly leaned over him.

“You were embarrassing. You were clingy. You were blackout drunk. I wasn’t too far behind you,” he paused his forceful statements, drawing a short breath that colored his cheekbones lightly, “What else is there?”

Manjoume jumped when Judai grabbed at his elbow, holding him in place, considering the fault line in his unreadable expression. It might have been the pounding in his head, the strange falling sensation in his chest, but Judai was convinced he could see it in Manjoume’s face, was certain that last night had included the strangest moment he had ever dreamt.

“I don’t want to forget it,” fell softly in the small space between them.

Judai ignored the screaming pain in his head as Manjoume haltingly drew his face closer. Their breaths were shaking, both of their faces ablaze as their noses feathered against the other’s cheek, as their lips barely touched.

Judai pulled his chin upward slightly, pursing his lips into a kiss against Manjoume’s. And when Manjoume responded in kind, pushing back with a kiss of his own, Judai’s lips parted to draw a large breath of relief. To smile.

It was weird, but it was kind of fun… More fun than anything else he could do with a hangover, anyway.


	2. Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> always running after you

1:

“Hey, you wanna hear something funny?”

The question had been voiced from an all too enthusiastic voice at the neighboring table. Manjoume didn’t look up from his geometry textbook, but he caught the others’ reactions to the intrusion all the same. Across from him, Shou seemed to let out a long breath, his grip on the table tightening in restraint. Misawa’s shoulder twitched, but from this angle the black-clad duelist couldn’t make out his facial expression. Asuka closed her eyes a moment too long, her thin lips in a hard-set line. Fubuki’s face portrayed a similar annoyance, emphasized by a rough turn of the page. At the next table, Kenzan glanced up at the question as it was voiced, but wearily avoided replying.

He couldn’t see Judai’s face, and at this point he honestly didn’t care.

The textbook before him seemed to slam shut of its own accord. He stood swiftly, the only real movement in the entirety of the Osiris Red dorm, and took his things beneath his arm. Six pairs of eyes watched him wearily, his own set in a glare at Judai’s. He was going to say something, yell at the boy for everything he was currently doing and what he had done, but his anger was escalating too quickly.

If he learned nothing else in that Dark World, it was that in these sorts of situations, he needed to remove himself before things could escalate out of control.

He threw the sliding door that separated the dining hall from the world a little too hard against its hinges. The cool night air was in stark contrast to the warm atmosphere of their little study session, and Manjoume was glad for the change.

Not long after reaching the boundary to the forest, no longer able to make out the glow from the Osiris dorm, he wasn’t at all surprised to feel a firm hand on his shoulder. What _had_ surprised him was the lack of warning.

“What do you _want_?” he snarled, spinning to face Judai head-on. How exactly was he supposed to remove himself from the situation when the situation followed him around like a lost puppy?

The only Osiris Red left at the Academy was taken aback at the outburst, only increasing Manjoume’s frustration at the whole situation, before saying, “Where are you going?”

Grey eyes hardened, “If you must know, anywhere but here.”

He watched Judai raise his defenses. He had always been so easy to read. “I thought we were studying for the first round of exams tomorrow–”

“ _We_ are,” Manjoume nearly screamed, “ _You_ are not.”

Judai’s hand finally fell from his shoulder, his eyes narrowing, “I was just trying to–”

“I don’t care!” he interrupted, “I don’t care what you were trying to do. You never think of anyone but yourself; not before, not in the Dark World, and certainly not now. Not all of us can cruise along on our dueling talent like you.” He had taken steps toward Judai with every emphasized point until they stood mere centimeters from each other.

A hand came up to shove Judai as he continued, “Some of us have goals, dreams, expectations, responsibilities. Some of us are working toward a future. And how can I concentrate when you have none of that?”

He held Judai’s gaze, so close to tearing his head off if he dared to voice any contradiction. In waiting for the retort, he almost missed the way the resolve faltered in his brown eyes. He was watching Judai’s face now, carefully blank as gaze fell off to the side. The boy was holding back. Strange.

“Then let me walk you back to the Blue dorm,” he said, his face still blank and avoiding Manjoume’s now puzzled glare.

He could hear the falter in his own voice as he shot back, “I don’t need an escort.”

Brown eyes glanced up to his face, carefully blank, before Judai started walking in the familiar direction of the Obelisk Blue dorm. Manjoume followed steadily, his anger slowly being replaced with curiosity. He hadn’t really expected Judai to be so adamant about something so meaningless.

They were almost to the Blue dorm when Judai turned around suddenly, and for some reason Manjoume’s anger had quieted enough to let him stop and listen to what he had to say.

He almost didn’t catch the mumbled “I’m sorry for all of this.”

A small huff that could have passed for something like an exasperated sigh left him as he caught on to the boy’s meaning, more far reaching than their abandoned study session, and resumed walking. As he passed Judai, he knocked his arm lightly.

“You’re an idiot,” he said with a smirk. “Come on, you should grab something to eat before you head back.”

Judai’s face lit up as he followed, but Manjoume noted that his eyes were still blank. He found that he didn’t mind too much.

* * *

2:

“Hey,” the brunette offered quietly in the darkness that surrounded them. He was trying to avoid waking Shou and Kenzan and Daichi and Asuka, who had _somehow_ managed to finally fall asleep despite the lightning that still raged outside the tiny window of the Osiris Red dorm room.

“Hey,” he tried again, his breathing picking up, and Jun wondered if he shouldn’t have tried sleeping on the floor after all, or maybe sharing a bunk with Shou even though the recently demoted Ra Yellow student was notorious for thrashing about in his sleep, “do you think the world is really gonna end tomorrow?”

The taller teen shifted in the small bunk, trying to keep some space between the two but failing, “No, of course it’s not going to end, idiot.”

There was a hum of agreement that Jun took to mean that he should try to fall asleep. It had been an exhausting evening, gathering supplies to this side of the island through the heavy storm, waiting up for the moment the clock would strike midnight on a new day, spending the next few hours living up the rumored apocalypse with laughter and screams and, for the misfits that they were, good company. And despite all of that, despite the cartwheels his heart had gone through to convince Asuka to stay the night with them, to take his bunk at the top and a pair of Kenzan’s sweatpants, he still couldn’t find rest in sleep.

Judai forced a chuckle at his side, and Jun could almost hear the awkward grin form on his face, allowing himself a tired sigh.

“But if it did…” he trailed off, his voice distant and significantly less playful, “… if the world did end before we woke up…”

Jun considered the sincerity and decided to remain quiet, genuinely curious as to whether the Osiris Red had the capacity to feel regret or remorse. The curiosity was lost in his fatigue as the silence between the two dragged on, however, and the constant tirade of rain on the walls and windows and ceiling were enough to drag Jun into a fit of dreamless sleep.

.

Some time later, unsure as to whether he had been woken by the discomfort or whether he was imagining it all in a dream, Jun’s eyes slowly opened and turned toward his shoulder, where his face was buried in a mop of two-toned brown hair. He blinked liberally, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness surrounding them.

Judai had clung to his arm, to his sleeve mostly, the fabric clinging coolly and unusually close where the other teen had buried his head in Jun’s shoulder. In Jun’s soaked shoulder.

He jerked his arm away at the realization, positioning himself on his side. He was poised to throw Judai to the wall, to yell in his face, to admonish him for apparently drooling all over his bunkmate’s shoulder _which is entirely disgusting_ –

He froze when he saw Judai, when he was able to take in all of the subtleties that made this so wrong. The smaller teen was slightly curled in on his side, his knees and lower legs brushing gently against Jun’s under the ragged blankets. His hands, having lost their loose hold on Jun’s arm, lay reaching, barely moving toward him. Thick brows were knitted on his forehead, mouth set in a grimace as sleep drove more tears–

Tears. The idiot had cried all over Jun’s shoulder.

Was he… afraid? Hell, with this new revelation, was Jun?

In the time it took for the alert of the two to take in all of this information, Judai’s hands had assessed that the warmth was gone. His hands fell back on himself, pressing into a wet and reddened face before sliding to press roughened palms to his forehead, using his forearms as an unconscious shield between his eyes and the world.

The sincerity and fatigue inherent in the slow movements reawakened the same in Jun all to suddenly as he watched, not entirely sure why he regretted his abrupt reaction to finding Judai curled up onto him. As the lightning continued to wreck havoc outside, Jun’s fatigue set in once again as his other arm slowly, deliberately, brushed a stray lock of hair from the side of the other’s face.

He smiled slightly when the gesture made Judai’s arms relax a bit away from his face, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with the hand now gently resting in the other’s hair. A sudden dizziness overcame him as he debated it. Without much of his consent, he fell back to the bed, still on his side, but his face was now entirely too close to Judai’s, and there was still the problem of his hand…

“But what if the world _does_ end before we wake up?”

He took a deep breath to fill his lungs, not entirely sure if the thought had been a memory or a real concern, and adjusted his arm so that it wrapped more comfortably around Judai’s head, thin fingers threaded in the back. He felt Judai’s arms rest against his chest like this, and the smile grew to something more like a nuzzle atop the boy’s head.

He peacefully fell asleep like that, their bodies further entwining as they slept through the storm, hoping that when the world did end, it would end in this much warmth.

* * *

 

3:

 

> He waited until he could hear Shou’s and Misawa’s light snoring over the buzzing fan. It had been an eventful summer afternoon, to say the least, and as Judai lay in bed in nothing but a loose black t-shirt and his boxers, sand still clinging to his brown hair, he couldn’t help but wonder what to do now.

He hadn’t exactly… anticipated  _that_ , of all things, to happen. Hell, he was under the impression that Jun still only tolerated him, if not outright hated him. Judai thought he was still working toward earning the top duelist’s trust. Would have bet money on it, if he’s had any, if he wasn’t technically a runaway.

Maybe he should ask Midori-san what to do. Or maybe not. As much of an older sister figure she was to him, he didn’t think he could look her straight in the eye and ask for her help sorting out his feelings. Especially not with her brother— her  _real_  brother— still the way he was.

He couldn’t ask Shou or Misawa for advice. Shou would probably just think he was kidding, which he usually appreciated, but he needed someone a little more honest. Misawa was worse, if his crush on Asuka were any indication. And in any case, the two had just spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and cutting up at Jun’s expense.

He had joined them, of course, but only because it was too awkward not to laugh off the situation. But now that he was alone, watching the large mechanical fan sway back and forth in the moonlight streaming in from the window, he didn’t find it funny at all.

He’d talk to Asuka. She always seemed to keep a level head about this sort of thing, and Judai knew that she respected Jun a lot.

Resolved to the task, not really knowing what to say, Judai moved at once, almost tripping over a sleeping Misawa on the floor before dressing and rushing silently out the door.

-

It didn’t take him long at all to reach the Obelisk dorm at the full sprint he had adopted through the forest between the two. Even in the dark of night, he knew these woods well, having plenty of time to get to know them when he was desperately late for class as often as he was. As he slowed to a stop in front of the ornate Victorian style building, panting lightly from the run and the oppressive heat, he realized that it might be a bit too late at night to ask for advice.

And in any case, he mused as he glanced at the rows of large, darkened windows, he didn’t know which one was Asuka’s room. And an Osiris Red dropout like him didn’t have access to this dorm. He sighed heavily, leaning on his left foot and carding his hair into a small ponytail to keep it off his sweating neck.

Well, he was already here. Might as well see if any of these elitists knew where he could find Asuka.

It was easy enough to find some small pebbles in the ground at his feet, as if they had been waiting for him, and he let a mischievous grin cross his face as he scooped a handful into his left hand. He shrugged his shoulders to adjust the t-shirt a bit before throwing a smaller pebble into his right hand.

He threw it experimentally at a random window, somewhat proud of himself for remembering how to control his throws from the years of playing baseball. The pebble bounced off the glass with a light  _chink_ , but nothing inside the windows stirred.

Without giving it much thought, he threw another pebble, this one a little harder than the last. When nothing happened again, he threw a third pebble, starting to get a little frustrated at the lack of response.

There was movement in the moment he threw the fourth pebble, though not from the window he had aimed at. He blinked at the window to the left of the one he had targeted, having not expected the moonlight-drenched curtains to be drawn back so abruptly. He couldn’t see who was at the window for the shadows in the room, but he waved at the figure anyway, trying to get it to open the window and talk to him.

He let out a huff when the figure disappeared in a rush. Whoever it was had probably run off to tell the professors. Typical.

Judai walked back toward the forest a bit and picked a big enough tree to sit behind. He figured he’d wait for the professors to rush to the student’s window and see that there was no one outside before trying again. If they came outside looking for him, which he doubted they would, he would already have a head start on them, and he’s be harder to spot without his red jacket on.

And in the mean time, he’d see if he could manage juggling the remaining pebbles between his hands, even if they were really hard to see in this darkness.

-

It was on his twelfth attempt that he heard the ornate wooden doors to the Obelisk Dorm unlock and slide open. The sudden sound caused him to drop the few rocks left in his hand to turn back toward the building. He held onto the tree trunk at his back as he looked for the figure in the darkness, a little too far away to discern it at first.

When it didn’t call out to him, but instead took a few calm steps through the grass toward the forest, Judai stood from his spot, tensed to run if he needed to. Upon its closer approach, Judai was suddenly able to see the long white Obelisk coat, the spiked hairstyle, and the far-too-casually crossed arms that matched a walk he knew too well.

“Hey,” he called out in a hushed tone, trying to wave his arm from behind the tree so Jun would see it, “Hey, Manjoume, over here!”

It wasn’t exactly who he had been looking for, but it was better than some professor by far. He watched Jun hesitate upon hearing Judai’s voice, but let a lopsided grin form on his face when Jun’s extra steps toward him were at a jog.

For some reason his heart was heavy now that Jun was so close, but he ignored the sensation, blaming it on the heat.

“What do you want?” Jun all but hissed at Judai as he came closer to the tree. Judai took a step toward him, grin still alight on his face, but his eyes wandered off toward a nearby branch when he began to remember what exactly he had come here to do.

“I kinda wanted to talk to Asuka,” he started, grimacing good-naturedly as a hand rubbed at the back of his neck, leaving bits of dirt, “but I don’t know what dorm room she’s in. And she’s probably asleep anyway…”

“Probably,” Jun said shortly as Judai trailed off.

He tried to laugh it off, still not looking at Jun, although his wide expression had faded a bit, “I guess I didn’t think that one through.”

Jun sighed, taking his time in replying with a soft, “You can talk to me, you know.”

Something shifted inside Judai, something in his chest and his heart and his lungs that cut his next breath short and held it captive without his consent. It held a firm grip over his heart, increasing the pressure with each painful heartbeat. He blinked harshly at the reaction, turning his gaze to Jun suddenly, trying to see his thoughts on his face or in his actions or anything at all.

But Jun was staring, probably glaring, at the ground, his arms still loosely crossed over his chest, giving every indication that he was fighting against something and that Judai should probably leave him alone. Even though right now Judai needed to talk to someone, and at this point, it might as well have been Jun.

He drew a deep breath to fight past the lump in his throat, throwing his fists into the pockets of his jeans stiffly before saying, “In that case, I don’t know how to respond to you.”

That earned him a cautious, questioning look, which he took as an indication to continue, since Jun was looking at him directly now.

“I was really surprised, you know?” his gaze dropped again, “One second you’re staring at me really intensely, refusing to answer me, and the next second you’re… your lips are…”

A fierce blush overtook his face and his breath caught once again, taking him completely off guard as he tried to explain the day’s events. Everything was too warm as he collapsed in on himself slightly, trailing off, not knowing what he was saying anymore.

It took him a moment to regain his breathing, through which Jun waited patiently, surprisingly enough, and Judai worked to regain his composure, looking back at Jun as he did, “A-and I don’t know what I think about it.”

Jun’s arms had tensed across his chest, his face falling into a colder gaze that leveled Judai, froze him in place, trying to anticipate how Jun would respond but finding that he really couldn’t. His mind was blank, focusing on trying to breathe properly, unable to register exactly what was happening.

“Forget it,” Jun said simply.

Judai blinked in reply, focusing less on his heartbeat pounding in his ears and more on the meaning in the statement. After a moment of confused silence, Jun sighed, dropping his hands to his hips as he stared at Judai.

“Forget it ever happened. I’m sorry. Now go back to your own dorm and go to sleep before you get yourself caught. It’s really late.”

With that, Jun turned back toward the Obelisk Dorm, not bothering to wait for Judai’s reply, or even for him to process the statement. Thick brown eyebrows furrowed once he had, confusion and a slight anger written all over his face, and his hands slowly left his pockets to clench at his sides.

“Manjoume,” he called out, waiting until Jun turned back slightly before continuing, “don’t apologize to me. It sounds really weird, and I don’t like it.”

He hadn’t meant the statement as a joke, but his anger immediately dissipated when he saw Jun laugh shortly and shake his head before turning back toward the dorm. A smile ghosted on his lips as he watched Jun walk away.

“And I’m not going to forget, you know,” he whispered when Jun was out of earshot, “I guess this is just something I’ll have to figure out on my own.”

 


	3. screaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's the voices in your soul that drown out the rest

1, part 1:

When he found Judai on the roof, the boy in red wasn’t surrounded by duel spirits. He was completely alone, legs carelessly swinging off the edge as he lay there, soaking up what little sun there was before the storms blew in. Inconsistent wind tousled his brown hair, the collar of his Osiris red jacket, but did nothing for the thin arms lain across his torso.

Winged Kuriboh disappeared as Jun took a few measured steps toward the boy. To have that annoying spirit bother him until he followed it was one thing, but to find Judai thoroughly and completely alone was… well, it was off-putting at best. His steps had been unintentionally quiet, but he saw Judai reach up and wipe his eyes on his right sleeve before sitting upright in one smooth motion.

Jun stood at a comfortable distance, arms crossed as he watched Judai turn around to face him, one leg still dangling off the edge of the roof. His eyes narrowed as he took in Judai’s hollow smile and the uneven lines down his cheeks where the dirt had been cleared.

He didn’t have to wait long until Judai supplied him with an explanation, or something like an explanation, at least. “Storms are great, aren’t they?” his voice was weak and creaking, but the closed-eyed smile remained, “Much better than going to class or anything like that, huh?”

Jun sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose and speaking far too evenly, “I should throw you over the ledge for trying that.”

Judai’s face fell so quickly that Jun had trouble convincing himself that the smile was there in the first place. Brown eyes turned away from him again, focusing on the grey clouds on the horizon. Jun didn’t know whether to approach or stay where he was, and a rumble of thunder erupted overhead.

“What do you want, Manjoume?”

“Use the ’-san’,” he countered automatically.

Judai didn’t respond.

Jun sighed again, rolling his eyes as he turned away from the Osiris Red slightly, “What are you doing up here by yourself?”

The wind moved between them, restless and heavy. “I come up here all the time by myself,” Judai said quietly, “It’s never bothered you before.”

“Then why were you crying?” Jun took a few steps forward, situating himself on the ground next to Judai but refusing to throw his legs over the edge of the roof. He didn’t expect Judai to respond, and Judai never did.

As the silence between them progressed, however, Jun began to notice the slight shaking in Judai’s hands as he tried to sit on them, to hide them away until they stopped betraying his inner turmoil. Before long, his whole body was a mess of trembling, face contorted in an immense internal pain.

Jun’s sigh was quieter this time. “Bring your legs up,” he ordered quietly.

Judai drew his legs to his chest fluidly, wrapping his arms around them as the trembling morphed into silent, body-jerking sobs.

“You can cry,” Jun mumbled as he slowly put an arm around Judai’s lower back, “It’s okay to cry, I promise.”

A gasping sob escaped him as he buried his face in his knees, two-toned brown bangs falling to cover most of his face from the weather and from Jun’s gaze. A few more gasps followed, paced at uneven intervals, until Judai finally managed a proper cry. Jun continued to hold him loosely, looking out at the rainstorm as it moved over the ocean.

A slight smile tugged at his lips when Judai’s breathing evened out, “You can’t die yet, you know.”

A watery laugh.

“I know.”

* * *

 

1, part 2:

The screaming in his own head was fading now. His perception of the outside world was growing clearer, and with each breath of cooled, heavy air he drew, he gained a better sense of what had happened. Or, rather, what had almost happened… what he had been willing to do to stop these thoughts and these screams and this all-encompassing _numbness_ …

Suddenly, he felt the fingers resting on his waist twitch, could feel the arm that controlled them resting gently against his lower back.

He shifted into himself slightly, trying to hug his legs closer to his chest, though this time out of a slight embarrassment. It was enough to make his lips twitch up his tear-stained and reddened face. The arm was only a light presence, barely there, as if trying not to intrude too much into his space.

Or, more likely, to make it seem like it wasn’t really there at all (even though it definitely was).

He steeled himself, gathering as much of the heavy pre-storm air into his lungs as he could before slowly raising his head from his knees. The storm was growing closer to the Academia, he noticed when he focused his gaze on the ocean.

“Manjoume–”

The last syllable was cut short, the name almost carried away in the wind that had gathered about the two boys sitting on the roof, as Judai realized that he didn’t know what he was about to say. He didn’t continue, letting his chin rest against the knees he still hugged in place, gaze refusing to divert from the oncoming storm.

The arm at his back dropped all at once, as if it had never been there, and the boy dressed in black let it join his other arm in his lap. A terse “What?” echoed between them, and the other’s behavior only made Judai’s upturned lip widen into a smile.

He had found something to say, as if it had never left him in the first place.

“Thank you.”

There was a pause, albeit brief, in which Judai almost turned to see his companion’s reaction, and had he turned in time, he would have laughed at the way Jun closed his eyes and shook his head, a knowing smirk dancing beautifully on his face.

But Judai didn’t look, and instead heard as Jun stood, brushing the bit of dirt off of his uniform as he did.

“I’m going inside,” he announced unnecessarily, the hidden command all too apparent to the boy in red.

“Yeah, me too.”

* * *

 

2:

The right turn signal failed to automatically cut off as Chazz eased the dark sedan into a parking space next to the beat-up ‘95 Civic. The rhythmic clicking did nothing to help his extremely annoyed countenance, but he didn’t bother to reset the signal. After angrily throwing the gear into park, he fell against the back rest with his arms across his chest, a pout threatening to appear on his face.

His brunette passenger was silent. Had been silent for the entire twenty-minute ride. Probably planned on remaining silent until being dismissed from the car, arms crossed defensively over his chest as his gaze rested on a bug splattered on the windshield.

Two more minutes of measured ticking was all Chazz could handle: his fist connected with the steering wheel in time with the next click, a frustrated yell muffled by his clenched teeth. He saw Jaden twitch in his periphery, but it only annoyed him more. His fist remained clenched on the steering wheel, and his other hand flexed in time with the turn signal’s clicks.

He fixed a glare onto the fist before him, willing himself to ignore the passenger still within his sight, and muttered with some difficulty, “You keep pushing us away.”

“You’re angry,” came the even reply.

Chazz’s fists flew to his face as he suppressed another yell, doubling over in his seat under the unfamiliar gravity of an anger that he knew too well. His face flushed as he regained his composure quickly, putting aside as much of the emotion as he could. It would get him nowhere right now.

“Stop redirecting,” he said suddenly, “It’s all you ever do. I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner…”

Jaden took a breath as Chazz’s voice died in his throat, “I don’t understa–”

Chazz turned toward Jaden in one quick, smooth motion, cutting him off before he could finish. His eyes were set in a heated glare that seemed to see through Jaden entirely. Uncomfortable, the brunette set his weary gaze on his supposed “rival” who seemed a bit more intimidating in the school’s jet black uniform.

“Oi,” he mumbled wearily when Chazz’s gaze unexpectedly softened.

Taking no time to deliberate further, Chazz let his eyes slide closed as he spoke: “You put up a front around everyone else, don’t you? Make yourself out to be the lovable idiot, the depth-less bystander, all while trying to bring out the best in people. To save them from themselves.

"All in all, you’re an even bigger moron than I thought.”

Jaden blinked at Chazz as the dark-haired teen opened his eyes, anger still clouding his expression. Not knowing how to reply, realizing that denial would only make the situation worse, his hand reached for the door handle.

Chazz recognized the fear now. True fear. He’d seen it before, mere hours before, when Syrus had been knocked unconscious during their match. When he, and perhaps a few others on the team, had finally connected the dots that better explained Jaden Yuki. And it was this Jaden Yuki, the one who was vulnerable from being thrown so suddenly to light, that he hated more than the bumbling idiot that served as his convincing mask.

He watched Jaden hesitate as he turned away, deep in thought most likely. He fumbled a bit with the door, but once the muggy spring air reached a tentative tendril inside the car, he moved swiftly away toward the car he shared with his parents.

It was only when Jaden had left the parking lot entirely that Chazz registered the ticking right turn signal again. Sighing, he turned the damn thing off and started to back out of his parking space, feeling a little warmer than he would’ve expected.

As he turned to check the back window, his eye caught on the bright red lacrosse stick and gym bag still in his back seat. His heart jumped as he processed the color, the color most opposite to his own navy lacrosse stick and black bag.

And an emotion opposite of hate wormed its way into his consideration as he drove home.


	4. loss

1:

“W-what are you doing?”

His tone wasn’t entirely surprised. There were hints of resignation and confusion, trying to hide themselves in the sheer volume of his words.

The spirits turned to him immediately, mischievous glints in their eyes. Two of the Ojama brothers disappeared immediately upon seeing him in the doorway, followed quickly by a chirping Winged Kuriboh (who _might_ have looked more than a bit apologetic).

Judai didn’t turn acknowledge the question, continuing to consider his appearance in the mirror. Yubel hadn’t spoken, but after sending the aghast man in the doorway a knowing smirk, they had turned their attention back to Judai, smile softening considerably.

“Aniki!” Ojama Yellow said as it moved toward Jun, who noticed the way Judai flinched back to reality at the outburst, “We were just helping Mister Judai get ready!”

“I can see that,” he said evenly, face falling from surprised to stoic as he walked into the room. The familiar Ojama disappeared with the changing atmosphere.

In a moment he was behind Judai, considering the reflection for himself. Brown eyes were averted from the mirror, trying to collect themselves on a spot of carpet by his feet. He was re-working a smile onto his face, and despite his death grip on the sides of the full-length coat, he was succeeding.

In the mirror’s reflection, Yubel wasn’t smiling anymore.

“What are you doing, Judai.” It was no longer a question, the same words forming an order to respond.

He didn’t have to wait long. “It’s like ‘Yellow said, just getting ready!”

The broad, closed-eyed smile made him uneasy.

“You can’t go in my Duel Academia coat, though,” he said slowly as he stepped around to consider him from the front. There were prominent wrinkles where his hands had been clutching the black fabric.

Judai regarded him for a moment, smile still on his face. The consideration took a moment too long, though. As if he was carrying on a different conversation telepathically.

Suddenly, “You only said I had to wear black! And I’ve always wanted to wear this. Looks pretty good on me, huh?”

He had begun modeling the coat, but Jun wasn’t amused. His mouth opened to argue when he caught sight of Yubel, their gaze pitying the pair. It winded him, and all at once, he didn’t think it necessary to tell exactly why it was inappropriate to wear something like that to a funeral.

“Take it off and put on the suit I got you,” he ordered instead, sending Yubel a glare before storming out of the room.

Jun didn’t comment when Judai finally stumbled into the car wearing it, irritation having subsided a bit in the twenty minute interim. The coat still smelled slightly of his cologne, he noticed when Judai’s head fell against his shoulder roughly.

It took an hour of driving down the highway before Judai managed a quiet, “It’s warm.”

Judai was smiling, and Jun sighed an affirmative.

He guessed Judai needed that.

* * *

 

2:

The rain began falling more abruptly after a few more minutes. The droplets rendered the dunes a darker shade of brown in a matter of seconds. Ocean waves grew more restless as the world dulled its color all around, in the sand and the sky and the endless expanse of water. The air was thick with saltwater and warmth, disturbed only by quiet rumbles from far, far away.

Judai took a deep breath, letting his eyes close and tilting his head back in the same motion. Droplets fell from each hem in his drenched black tshirt, and the rivers they drew down his bare arms encouraged a comforting numbness. His cargo shorts were slipping off his hips. Bare feet had long ago melted into the flattened beach.

A smirk ticked at the corner of his mouth as he tried to find the pattern between the thunder claps. They grew steadily louder before he got the timing just right.

An umbrella opened somewhere behind him, loudly rustling the heavy air. A whispered curse preceded grainy footsteps toward Judai. Rain pattered on the stretched polyester with the same inconsistency that it paid to Judai’s head and face and shoulders and chest and back and–

He was pulled around by his left wrist with no warning, his feet uprooted abruptly lest he fall into the other. A cheeky grin grew across his lips, ready to laugh off any accusations that might meet him out here.

The expression faltered with the continued pressure around his wrist, but it didn’t completely crumble until he saw Jun’s face, contorted in a wide-eyed, jaw-locked anger.

Until another roll of air-quaking thunder made Jun flinch away.

It took another few breaths of consideration, the rain falling on only half of him, before Judai suggested they head inside. Jun’s eyeroll might have been more convincing had the whites of his eyes not stung with so much red.


	5. meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> again, after so long...

“Stop fidgeting with your cuffs,” Jun snapped, stuffing his hands into the shallow pockets of his sport coat, “You’re embarrassing yourself, and we haven’t even gotten to the reception yet.”

Judai dropped his hands to his sides automatically, squaring his shoulders and gazing straight ahead as he was reprimanded. This hotel, this suit, this atmosphere, this ceremony was far too grandeur for him, the traveler, the ghost. He couldn’t remember feeling this uncomfortable, and no, Yubel, that was not an invitation to bring up past events that were just as uncomfortable, you smart-ass.

Seeing Manjoume Jun after so many years had been uncomfortable. Knocking on the door to his apartment at two in the morning with a black eye and more than a few bruised ribs had been embarrassing. Having tired, exasperated, but by no means surprised gray eyes trained on him had made his chest squirm so painfully.

Being told the next day that he would accompany the other to an awards ceremony where Shou would be honored for his accomplishments in the pro-dueling world had left him flat-out anxious.

His hands rose without his consent, coarse fingers pulling at the end of the brand new white dress shirt. He was borrowing this black sport coat, and with his elbows bent like this, the crisp poly-cotton inched away from his wrist, trying and failing to bring the shirt cuff with it. Brown eyes were on the floor as he chewed on the inside of his lip, trying to figure out what he could say to Shou.

_I’m sorry_ just didn’t seem like enough. _I’ve missed you_ conveyed the wrong message. _I’m happy for you_ was too empty and formal. But then again, wasn’t that the theme of this event?

A sign pointed out their destination to the right, but as they approached it, Judai felt a strong grip on his exposed wrist. The movement was so sudden that he hardly had the opportunity to cry out in surprise before Jun pulled him into the opposite hallway. Using only a grip on his wrist, Jun was easily able to spin Judai, leading his movements by the wrist, and pressed the smaller’s back against the gold and red wallpaper.

Judai stared back dumbly, eyes wide and mouth agape.

Jun’s words were hissed between clenched teeth, “Stop fidgeting with your fucking shirt or I swear I will leave you out here. There’s no way in hell I’m walking through those doors with an embarrassing, anxious mess at my side.”

Judai swallowed, his heart rate starting to calm, although he hadn’t realized it had been racing. He gathered his thoughts here, with Jun pressing his own wrist into his chest uncomfortably, under the scrutiny of that intense glare. The air in this hallway was stale, but in the quiet dim he could hear clattering glasses and light chatter from the event hall.

He focused his attention on those gray eyes, reaching for something in Jun’s phrasing, “What am I, your date?”

He had meant the question as a joke, as something to lighten the palpable atmosphere, to make Jun back off and realize that things were fine, to stop worrying. A terse exhale was his reply, and for a few seconds Judai was under the impression that Jun might actually hit him, ruining all of their combined effort (and foundation and concealer) in masking Judai’s worsening black eye.

But he didn’t hit Judai.

Pale fingers let Judai’s wrist free painstakingly slowly, as if Jun were exerting a great effort to quell his temper. Judai remained still, afraid of the strange look on Jun’s face, which had contorted so suddenly from anger to thoughtfulness. His glare had lessened considerably, gaze falling from Judai’s face, settling on his shirt collar.

“Your tie’s crooked,” he whispered as he moved very slowly to straighten it, to straighten the collar itself, to graze a thumb over the edge, his thumbnail lightly pressed against Judai’s skin.

Judai continued to stare at Jun, staying completely still despite the lurch in his abdomen, his breaths growing shallow.

“You’re hopeless,” Jun said just as quietly, his hand moving from Judai’s shirt to wrap around the back of his neck, pinching at the short brown hairs he found there, “and you need a haircut—”

“I need you,” Judai interrupted without thinking, and as soon as his words resounded in his own ears, he started back-peddling. “I need your help, I mean. I need your help when I see Shou. I don’t know what to say.”

Jun nodded, as if having expected Judai’s outburst, whose face was now coloring with anger and embarrassment, and withdrew his hand. He saw Judai blink at him, those brown eyes always so easy to read, before he turned back toward the event that awaited them.

He didn’t want Judai to see the faint warmth that was growing on his own face as he called back, “Hurry up or we’ll be late.”

* * *

 

> Their ascent to Jun’s upper floor apartment was a slow one, as graceful as if they weren’t moving at all. The ornate sconces on each wall of the elevator cast a warm light into the small space. Their aged bronze matched the handrail, the console, and accented the warm tones in the elaborate twists and turns of the carpet’s design. It was a shame that, had Judai not collapsed slowly to the elevator floor, he certainly would not have noticed it.

His back rested uncomfortably against the mirrored back wall, but he relished in the feel of cold glass on the back of his head. It was a strange juxtaposition to the heated air and warm lights, but a welcome one nonetheless.

He debated unfastening the polished plastic buttons on his plain dress shirt, but the more he considered it, the less energy he found in his arms to complete the whole action. Breathing was painful enough as it was.

His right arm reached to his left side, gingerly poking at his ribs until he flinched.

_So it really is broken, the fifth one on the left side._

_It could just be bruised! No big deal, right?_

The next breath he drew was deep, and the pain caused him to fold to his left slightly, grabbing at the source of the pain.

_Okay, maybe not._

He straightened against the cool mirror at his back, blinking at his reflection in the similarly mirrored elevator doors. How could anyone be comfortable in this attire? The jackets were too angular at the shoulders, the white dress shirts were too constraining, the heavy black slacks with their neat little creases running in perfect lines down his legs, a pair of polished shoes that would not give to his movements… and this tie, this striped and boring tie pulling at his neck…

He glanced up at Jun, at the other’s stiff posture, at the slight folds in his perfectly-tailored suit, at the scowl he was directing at the elevator console, and Judai found his quick glance stuck on Jun, unable to blink away.

“We there yet?” he said, his voice a bit too loud for this small space, but he paid it no mind.

“Can you walk?” Jun quietly asked instead, not moving his glare from the opposite wall.

Judai’s affirmative nod was quickly followed by several awkward movements to get back on his feet. The carpet was unforgiving and stiff under his palms as he brought his knees up, instinctively using the muscles in his sides as little as possible. With his feet planted, Judai reached for the handrail above his head, wincing as his skin adjusted over his ribs.

A curse escaped him when he tried to pull himself up, and he fell back to the floor rather pathetically, a scowl lighting upon his face.

Jun exhaled tersely, his grip on his crossed arms flexing to pull at the creases in his coat. Brown eyes watched him wearily as he moved, haltingly at first, to kneel with his back toward Judai and his elbows pointed away from his sides. Judai blinked at him as the elevator slowly decelerated at their floor.

“Hurry up and get on before I leave you here.”

The doors opened to a striped wallpaper that drew its color from the same ornate carpet. These hallways were dimmer than the elevator, but no less warm in both temperature and scheme. The edges of two opposite door frames were painted beige, although the rough strokes of a painter’s brush had long been sanded away for the sake of a perfect order and class.

Judai breathed a mouthful of dizzyingly crowded air, losing himself in a static that encroached from his periphery, growing into the edges of his sight and of his mind. The world remained unmoving until Jun turned to look over his shoulder, hissing Judai’s name in an anger that ill masked his concern.

But it was the sound of resentment that made Judai blink back to the present, to his aching ribs and his weakening limbs, to the dark jacket that covered Jun’s back, protecting Jun from the surrounding winter.

He more fell than climbed onto Jun’s back, muttering an “I owe you” into the fabric on Jun’s shoulder blades. The ensuing scoff was Jun’s only reply as he pulled both of them off of the floor, although not without stumbling a bit as he walked away from the elevator.

Jun’s cold hands caught Judai’s thighs just above the knee as he walked, prompting Judai to tighten his hold on Jun’s shoulders. His forehead rested at the base of Jun’s neck, his brown bangs falling between white shirt collar and terse skin. He could feel Jun’s back muscles straining to hold him up, especially as Jun’s pace slowed and his neck turned red.

Judai closed his eyes slowly, concentrating on predicting how Jun would move, trying to keep his left side still. It didn’t take but a few steps for them to fall into a rhythm, for Judai’s thoughts to wander back to the banquet hall.

It hadn’t been  _that bad_ , right?

Consumed by images of the flawless decorum, by the memories of everyone’s faces as they recognized him at last, Judai didn’t really notice when Jun paused, when they walked into the main room of his apartment, when they were again embraced in the darkness that accompanied the late hour. It fell against his clothes and his skin, rousing his nerves in a low static that was neither uncomfortable nor distracting. This darkness allowed his eyes to open slightly, drowsily, while he still saw Shou’s diverted eyes, while he still felt the way they all avoided looking at him directly.

“Let go,” Jun said roughly, a bit too loudly for the stillness that surrounded them. Judai was sitting on Jun’s lonely leather couch, and in the moment it took for him to come back to reality, he scrambled to untangle his arms from Jun’s shoulders.

“My bad,” he winced, “I got kinda distracted. Thanks again for that.”

Jun didn’t reply. With that same stoic look on his face, he turned on his heel and leaned over Judai, reaching for the opened sport coat’s left side. His face was a bit red, and as he leaned closer, Judai instinctively held his breath.

Jun pulled the coat away from Judai’s side roughly, ignoring Judai’s slight wince. His fingers ghosted over the dress shirt, pulling at the cotton every so often, as if looking for something. Judai’s focus didn’t leave the harsh emotion on Jun’s face.

Finally Jun stepped back, “I want to look at it. Unbutton your shirt.”

The breath Judai had been holding back fell out of him in a rushed sigh as he fell further into the couch. His head rolled back against the cushions as he averted his eyes toward the window curtains. His hands reached to slowly loosen his necktie, his breaths slowing as he tried to fight off the numbness growing in his fingers, his raised forearms, the corners of his skull.

He gave up after unfastening three buttons. His hands fell back to his lap. His breathing was all wrong. Air passed between his lips, but he felt like he was suffocating. Drowning. There wasn’t enough air. Nothing was working.

“Here,” Jun sighed as he harshly pulled Judai’s shirt apart, succeeding in mostly untucking it with the action.

Judai grimaced at the ceiling as Jun pulled up his plain undershirt on Judai’s left side. The cold air stung at his exposed skin, but the chill made it a little easier for Judai to breathe. He ignored the way Jun groaned at the sight, focusing his thoughts on his breathing instead.

Until they caught in his throat, stilled by ice-cold fingers pressing lightly into his side, likely looking for the cause of the massive bruising.

Judai yelled painfully when they found it. and his head snapped to level Jun with a glare.

“Hey! That hur—”

“It’s just cracked,” Jun interrupted evenly, calmly fixing his palm against the break, “it’s not going to hurt anything as long as you take it easy and let it heal.”

It was then that Judai realized that Jun’s gaze had been averted the whole time, affixed on another cushion entirely despite the neutral expression on his face. He grunted quietly in reply to Jun’s statement, finding his breaths strangely easier to draw with the hand on his rib.

A small smile broke onto his face as he drew a deeper breath, finally feeling the air fill his lungs completely.

“Keep your hand there,” he said simply, “It helps.”

Gray eyes refocused on him intently, and Judai’s smile widened for a moment before falling away. It didn’t take long for his brown eyes to blink away, to watch his left hand turn to hold Jun’s elbow in place. His thumb ghosted over the bend as his grip on the jacket tightened, as he felt Jun’s thumb rub lightly over his bruised side.

Jun sighed deeply before closing his eyes and bowing his head, “Why did you come here, Judai?”

He resisted for a moment when Judai pulled on his arm, when Judai reached for his shoulder. But Judai kept pulling gently, kept leading Jun to settle himself on the couch, his lithe legs kneeling on opposite sides of Judai’s legs. He sat slowly, hesitantly, without taking his eyes off of Judai’s forced smile. The hand on Judai’s side didn’t dare to move.

“You haven’t been sleeping, have you?” Judai said, finally looking back at Jun, watching as Jun’s eyes lit with recognition before closing harshly in restraint. Judai’s soft laugh met Jun’s terse sigh in the empty space between them.

And when Jun collapsed in on himself, fully considering the statement against his own fatigue, when his resentful expression faded again, Judai didn’t have to pull him closer. Jun nestled his forehead into the crook of Judai’s neck slowly, as if the action might break either of them. Jun’s left hand gently took a fistful of Judai’s lapel.

Judai wormed his right arm under Jun’s dark sport coat.

“I’m here because I trusted you not to ask unnecessary questions,” he whispered evenly into Jun’s ear.

A low hum resonated in Jun’s throat.

It didn’t really matter right now, anyway.

* * *

 

Scrawny arms reached, fingers spaced and yearning to lightly slide against the curves of a familiar face. They took what they desired easily. swiftly, as if his stillness had been a thoroughly-planned act, as if the very touch did not send his pale face into the rush of a heated blush. The roughened fingers curled around his jaw, touched and pulled at the back of his neck, held his already steady stance still.

A pair of jagged, chapped lips fell on his own thin and well-balmed ones. He didn’t move as they pursed against him, moved fluidly against his, and quieted into a broad, teeth-bearing grin against his lips. The fingers held tighter to his stilled neck, but they were cold now, as cool as the separate sets of teeth on opposite sides of his barely parsed lips.

“I missed it,” the mouth that wasn’t his own moved to whisper, the nose that nestled against his wrinkling strangely as the only other person in this dark and lonely apartment forced his eyelids further shut.

“It’s fine,” Jun said slowly, the surprise and confusion in his voice too completely laced to untangle. Their breaths fell together, but the grip on his face did not loosen.

“It doesn’t matter,” he continued, his own arms finding life at last as they rose to take careful hold of Judai’s waist. They stayed there for a while, opposing portraits of graceful tension and fatigued stillness, before Judai moved again, those arms wrapping tightly around Jun’s neck, their left cheeks pressed together, Judai’s face burrowing in Jun’s dark hair.

“You look like shit, Judai,” he lied, or rather assumed, through the darkness that still held the two of them in a space of lofty half-truths. The name did not felt strange on his tongue, though. Not anymore.

It was Judai’s half-hearted murmur that drove Jun to move, to lead Judai by the waist back to the reasonably comfortable bed Jun had been roused from.

And from the crook of Jun’s neck came no protests, even as the both of them finally, after a hot and restless summer of a sickening insomnia, fell asleep peacefully curled in on one another.

August, and only August, was theirs.


End file.
